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Stop the Week: Winner's Dinners

Duelling with doughnuts and a do-nothing doorman

You can greatly admire a chef, enjoy every dish they’ve cooked for you, yet when they produce a real stinker, it puts you off almost for ever. So it was with the lovely Angela Hartnett, who runs the Connaught hotel kitchens.

It was my birthday (October 30, so you can plan presents), not last year, but 2003. I took her kitchen table for 11 of my nearest and dearest. Beforehand I discussed the menu with Angela. She suggested roast suckling pig. I love roast suckling pig. It is beyond historic at the Sandy Lane, Barbados. It sits on a hot trolley, legs, head, ears, tail, the lot. The skin is beautifully crisp. The meat soft and succulent. That’s a truly great meal.

So when Angela suggested roast suckling pig I was salivating. What arrived was ghastly beyond belief. Nor was it roast suckling pig to me. We got a round